Skins, a critically acclaimed British television series, created by Bryan Elsley and Jamie Brittain, follows the lives of eight teenagers as they go through their last years of school. Skins pushes the boundaries when touching on subjects such as sexuality, substance abuse, eating and personality disorders. All eight of the teenagers have their fair share of issues, but one that seems to have the most problems is James Cook. Cook, is portrayed as the mentally unstable antagonist in the series, with his drunken rages, drug-influenced psychotic breaks, and his thoughtless actions towards his friends. But all the exaggeration on his outbursts seems to distract the viewer from who he actually is: a coming-of-age character, who is honest with himself
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Freddie is the friend that always bails Cook out of bad situations, and JJ is the one that amuses him with bad magic tricks and jokes. But on occasions, both forget just how much Cook relies on them; a major plot line in the series is Freddie sleeping with Cook’s love interest, Effy, knowing just how much Cook is in love with her. Cook being the person he is confronts Freddie, and says, “Look Effy plays us both… I really like her mate, but I love and need you in my life, and no [girl] will be the bloody end to us, ya hear? I’ll forget her for you, you have her.” When it comes to it, Cook would always put his dysfunctional, made-up family first, he values Freddie’s and JJ’s friendship too much to put his lustful relationship any importance, something Freddie does not.
While on the topic of Effy, the main character of the series, she is the one person that plays with Cook and all his emotions. Nearing the end of the series, Effy suffers from a psychotic breakdown, where she is institutionalized in a psychiatric ward. None of the friends go to visit her, none expect Cook. Cook helps Effy sneak out for one last night and takes her out to eat and tries his best to be romantic with her. Even though she cheated on him, and broke his heart, he does not abandon his friend when she needs him the
Freddie is the friend that always bails Cook out of bad situations, and JJ is the one that amuses him with bad magic tricks and jokes. But on occasions, both forget just how much Cook relies on them; a major plot line in the series is Freddie sleeping with Cook’s love interest, Effy, knowing just how much Cook is in love with her. Cook being the person he is confronts Freddie, and says, “Look Effy plays us both… I really like her mate, but I love and need you in my life, and no [girl] will be the bloody end to us, ya hear? I’ll forget her for you, you have her.” When it comes to it, Cook would always put his dysfunctional, made-up family first, he values Freddie’s and JJ’s friendship too much to put his lustful relationship any importance, something Freddie does not.
While on the topic of Effy, the main character of the series, she is the one person that plays with Cook and all his emotions. Nearing the end of the series, Effy suffers from a psychotic breakdown, where she is institutionalized in a psychiatric ward. None of the friends go to visit her, none expect Cook. Cook helps Effy sneak out for one last night and takes her out to eat and tries his best to be romantic with her. Even though she cheated on him, and broke his heart, he does not abandon his friend when she needs him the